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Kikkerland Design, with the help of designer Jozeph Forakis, created a miniature version of a large table they presented at ICFF, for display at ICFF. It’s layers within layers, people. The table was created digitally and printed with a special resin to produce the highly detailed, 7.924mm long model. The table is so small, you can only see the details with the aid of a magnifying glass. (more…)

Which technically makes this an origami lampshade that is folded from pre-scored .8mm steel into a shape that somewhat resembles a closed flower, or maybe a crumpled piece of paper. Designed by Thomas Hick, all one has to do to make this lampshade is fold along the dotted lines, the idea being that people are free to choose in what order to fold their new purchase. (more…)

D.E. Sellers is an amazing designer who creates stunning and functional flatpack furniture. His creations are often deceptively simple and efficient. One of his more well-known creations is a bookshelf that is cut from a single sheet of plywood with no waste which is easily assembled without the use of any tools. Much of his work embraces the sheet of wood, rather than trying to obscure it; his objects both deconstruct and enhance the otherwise mundane wood plank. While his furniture has a decidedly utilitarian appeal, (more…)

Emily Pilloton is the founder of Project H Design and she is asking you, or more specifically, people who design things, to focus your efforts on designing solutions to global human issues; the lack of food, water, shelter, education, even money. She wants you to help solve these problems not with a few cents a day, but with a small portion of your time and talent, and I completely agree with her. (more…)

Australian-based designer Chris Byrne started Left Hand Make in 2004 and introduced the ’small one’ range of furniture for children. He has designed a chair and table that pack flat, and are assembled with clever mortise-and-tenon joints that require no adhesives and create strong, lasting joins. Both pieces of tiny furniture have soft, rounded forms which, according to the designer, are evocative of animal forms. I’m not sure I see the animals, but that doesn’t make the furniture any less beautiful. The real selling point for me are those great joints; they give the this collection great character and solid construction. Considering the apparent quality of the pieces, they are reasonably priced starting at about $140 USD for the small one chair. (more…)

Sugi is the national tree of Japan, and it grows abundantly, accounting for 13% of the nation’s forests. The trees were cultivated after World War II to help jumpstart the Japanese economy, but with the introduction of cheaper, more appropriate lumber, the trees have gone unused. Enter Japanese company HIDA and Italian designer Enzo Mari; (more…)

The Brooklyn-based design/build studio 4-Pli designs and manufactures furniture cut from sustainably-harvested plywood on their in-house CNC mill which are then finished with low-VOC paints and varnishes. Much of their collection has elements that repeat, slide together, or nest within each other. They’re not exactly flat-pack design, but they’re also not hand-carved one-of-a-kind pieces (luckily for us). Their work finds a wonderful balance between the two extremes, resulting in work that is simple and sophisticated. (more…)

Ceramic artist John Balistreri wanted to explore the world of rapid prototyping and the ways it could expand the boundaries of ceramic art so, he teamed up with Gregory Little at Bowling Green State University and BGSU’s ZCorp 3D printer. Balistreri and the team at BGSU experimented with with various clays and binders to create finished, functional ceramic objects that are compatible with ZCorp’s printing process. ZCorp technology closely resembles current inkjet technology, the difference is instead of printing on paper, it prints on increasing layers of powder material.

The teacup was created by scanning a hand-thrown teacup with a 3D scanner and reproducing the teacup with the printer. The teapot, however, was printed directly from a digital file, which opens up a number of possibilities that aren’t possible with traditional ceramic techniques. With traditional ceramics, the rendering of an object is limited by the pull of gravity. Because printed ceramics are surrounded by dry media, they are able to ignore gravity to create structures that are currently either impossible or unfeasible with today’s production technologies, such as engine parts, or superior water filters. All in all, printed ceramics look pretty cool and they might change the world.

I love cardboard furniture. There’s something alchemic about turning such an omnipresent, mundane material into something other than a box. Cardboard furniture is really great for temporary purposes such as outfitting a dorm, traveling, and in Green Lullaby’s case, providing for rapidly sprouting children. Green Lullaby has designed a small series of cardboard furnishings for children of various ages that are eco-friendly and damned useful, often incorporating storage space in their design. With a cradle, bench, table, and stools, each piece appears to be sturdy, beautiful, and functional, although I would hope the cradle is at least water-resistant. (more…)

In the spirit of our Puzzles & Games 10-Day Challenge, I thought I’d highlight one of my favorite game genres, the Constructible Strategy Game. First marketed by Wizkids with the game Pirates of the Spanish Main, this new game has you building miniature three-dimensional sailing vessels from styrene cutouts that fit together with simple slots. Wizkids trademarked the name PocketModel and continued the concept with a Star Wars miniatures game and the decidedly less successful Rocketmen. Wizards of the Coast, another massive games company, added their hat to the constructible game ring with the Transformers 3D Battle-Card Game, which was wildly unsuccessful, but had the interesting twist of having each figure being able to be constructed as a robot or a vehicle, with each form having different powers, woo! (more…)